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Sen. Leahy’s staff let us know that the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin markup of the Respect for Marriage Act on Thursday, November 3rd. Voting on amendments and the full bill is likely to be delayed a week, given that the committee Republicans have used a procedure to force a delay on consideration for a week on everything before the committee this year. So it’s likely actual consideration and voting will be on November 10th, but the process itself begins on November 3rd.

It’s unclear what amendments the Republicans will offer to the bill, but we’re preparing for the worst.

"A new report on children raised by gay parents is out today from the Family Equality Council, Center for American Progress, the Movement Advancement Project, the National Association of Social Workers and the Child Welfare League of America"

"Among the barriers and inequities they face, as detailed in the report:

—Many government safety net programs use definitions of family tied to marital status which may exclude same-sex partners.
—Because of lack of legal recognition for their unions, gay and lesbian parents can face heavier tax burdens, higher costs for health insurance, and diminished financial protections in the event of death or disability.
—When same-sex parents separate, one parent may lose custody or visitation rights, even in cases where he or she had been a child's primary caregiver.

Overshadowing all these problems is pervasive social stigma, according to the report."

Perhaps I'm naive but I still have hope it will pass! ….that several persons will engage in the process, like Cuomo did to help get marriage equality for NY.

7. Adam Bink | October 25, 2011 at 12:01 pm

That is correct.

We should not expect a floor vote in November. This is a committee vote, and barring amendment trouble, we expect it to pass in committee. The benefit of this is that it generates headlines, educates the public, and increase the pressure on folks like Sen. Reed to get with the program. All of this is long-term work, of course.

8. Adam Bink | October 25, 2011 at 12:01 pm

Good for you.

9. mcc | October 25, 2011 at 1:07 pm

This is very neat, even if the bill is not going to pass getting a committee markup and vote is still a big step toward passage in a future congress (assuming the courts let DOMA live that long).

A question, does anyone know if the ENDA introduced in this Congress is likely to get a markup / committee vote in the Senate before 2013? Aside from being personally important to me, ENDA seems to me to have a somewhat better chance of passing the Senate (it has more cosponsors currently and is slightly less controversial technically; it also, unlike the RFMA, doesn't have a path to being enacted by court order) so it seems surprising that the committees are jumping on the RFMA first (of course I'm sure that the RFMA and ENDA are considered by different committees).

10. Adam Bink | October 25, 2011 at 1:12 pm

I don't know a lot about the prospects of ENDA, but I believe the committee of jurisdiction is HELP.

so now we goat set here and wait again 4 the bad news right?? and even though we have democrats in on this board the republicans can twist and force the others to change their vote??? That is so way wrong!!!!!

15. Steve | October 26, 2011 at 6:05 am

DADT is somewhat of a unique issue. When it comes to the military, it was possible to sway some more moderate Republicans who see no harm in letting gay people serve openly. But they can still be against same-sex marriage for other reasons.

[…] the markup process beginning tomorrow in the Senate Judiciary Committee (actual voting on the bill is expected to be a week from tomorrow, Nov. 10th), our coalition is continuing pressure on Sen. Casey to help […]